This is a classic and largely familiar story of user center designed from the field of architecture. It had never occurred to me to make this very natural connection to blogs and blogging in the organization. Now that someone else has, however, I expect to use the analogy routinely (with all due credit recorded here).
Thank you, Dina.
Corporate Blogging – Blogs as Paths in Open Spaces.
One more way of looking at blogging in organisations …
“Blogging Paths in the Grass – Will Pate.
Jon Strande was blogging the other day about how Slonian corporate structures divorce employees from each other and customers. He told this litle story that sparked some thinking about one of my favorite subjects these days, organizational blogging.
An architect once designed a cluster of buildings. When asked by the landscape crew where to pave the sidewalks, he told them to plant grass between all the buildings, wait a year, then, after the occupants had worn the most useful paths, the architect told the landscape crew to pave the pathways that the occupants had created.
In an organization blogs can operate much the same way. They become open spaces where people can create their own path. Discussions emerge and the lines wear deeper into the solid ground, creating meaningful relationships built on common interests.”